I bought a whole discount ribeye roast a few months back and sliced and grilled a few steaks off of it. The marbling wasn't very good and I learned my lesson about buying discount ribeyes - never again. Anyhow, at that time I cut the remaining rib roast into two smaller roasts and froze them. I pulled one out of the freezer this weekend and smoked it today. 4.5 lbs, seasoned with Montreal Steak and put on the Gator Pit at 250 degrees for about 3.5 hours before it reached an internal temp of 135. I let it rest on the counter for about 1/2 hour and then dug in for dinner. Results were good but not great. You can only do so much with lesser grades of beef. All in all, it was definitely edible – actually quite good, just not prime texture.

I'd say you did just fine, Toby! I'm not familiar with this cut, though...is it from the same primal as a rib roast?

Yes - same thing, just a rib roast. It wasn't stamped on the packaging when I bought it, but I would have to classify it in the select category. It just wasn't that melt in your mouth, buttery texture a nice choice or prime cut will give you. I'm going to eat on it for a few days though. I'm the only one in my house that will eat pink meat. More for me!

Looks great!!The crust and the smoke ring look so good I had the same issues with discount rib roast few years back and stopped using for steaks or whole. I only use discount rib roasts for slicing, since tenderness and marbling would not be an issue. This is mainly for making cheese steak and Shawarma.

A number of years back I was in a grocery store and came across a whole strip loin for $3.99/lb but it was Select, and since we were out of town at the time I didn't have an easy way to get it home. In retrospect it was probably to my benefit, as I think it would've been about $40.

I paid $3.99/lb for this whole ribeye - that was the fascination. It was a 19# Ribeye Roast for $76 and I couldn't resist. I wanted to slice it all into steaks, foodsaver and freeze. I initially sliced 4 thick steaks off of to grill it which is where the disappointment began. At that point, I decided to save the rest for smoking. I was much more satisfied with the smoked results, but select quality is select quality no matter how you look at it.

I am the only one in my house that will eat rare med/rare meat, so this really isn't practical for me. I'll eat on this one for a week. I've got a slightly bigger roast left that I'll probably do while camping with other folks to help eat. It was a costly lesson, but now I know.

I guess one of my biggest complaints with this cook was that I was planning to make an au jus out of the drippings and at the end of the cook - there were NO DRIPPINGS! I put the roast in a pan after about 30 minutes of cooking in hopes of collecting that liquid magic. In the end, there were virtually zero drippings from this piece of meat. Any ideas? Do you think its because it was a leaner cut?

Because heat renders fat it seems to me that to get a good amount of drippings it's necessary to cook the meat longer and to a higher temperature...and for rare-beef guys like you and me that's the last thing we want to do!

After Buttsmoker's thread about making au jus I think he has the right idea: don't count on the meat you're going to eat to provide enough drippings, but instead specifically designate a different piece to be sacrificed for its fat. And the dog will always be happy to eat the well-done beef that's left.

I sure would jump on that in a heartbeat! I have found it to be luck of the draw when it comes to jus on the plate. Even with London Broils, I've had everything from dry as a bone to poodles of juice. I don't disparage though when I get a dry one, because I can always resurrect it into mighty fine tacos, submarines, etc. And in fact, I've had some select cuts that were superior to choice cuts!